The Hong Kong Government is expected in its 2014/15 Budget, due to be announced by Financial Secretary John Tsang on February 26, to continue increasing expenditure on a range of social welfare initiatives while maintaining its commitment to fiscal discipline...Read full feature

Since PwC, the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation first launched their Paying Taxes report nine years ago, corporate income taxes have consistently fallen, while labour taxes borne by companies have been more stable and now represent the largest component of total tax obligations.Read full feature

In the autumn of 2000 the Maltese government passed legislation enabling online betting centres to be set up in the country, and this legislation, coupled with provisions from the Income Tax Act written specifically for international companies, made Malta an attractive location for casino and sportsbook operations.Read full feature

In this feature we summarize some of the key transfer pricing developments to have taken place over the last six months, including the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) ongoing projects in relation to intangibles and BEPS (base erosion and profit shifting) and changes at jurisdiction level.Read full feature

Malta, like Cyprus, has been obliged to dismantle its old 'offshore' companies regime as a trade-off for joining the European Union. EU membership has, however, brought about certain benefits for Maltese companies trading across borders, and, coupled with investment-friendly government policies and some interesting tax planning opportunities, Malta remains one of the most favourable places in the EU in which to locate an international holding company.

Ask people their thoughts on the British Virgin Islands (BVI), and most would reply something along the lines of “nice beaches.” This is of course true, and as with so many other Caribbean territories, tourism is a fundamental part of the BVI's economy - about 45% of it in fact. What many people perhaps don't realise is that financial services are just as important; indeed, the BVI is one of the largest IOFCs and it plays a key role in directing finance and investment all over the world.Read full feature

The Cypriot shipping industry has experienced strong growth since the creation of the shipping registry in 1963 and several ingredients have combined to make Cyprus one of the most important locations for a variety of maritime-related activities, including a benign tax regime, modern financial and legal infrastructure, low operating costs and geographical location at the junction of three continents.Read full feature

With its location in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, a centuries old maritime tradition and a respected and favourable regulatory and tax regime for shipping, it is no surprise that Malta has developed one of the world's largest ship registers in modern times, and in the face of stiff competition from other prominent maritime nations.Read full feature

For many years, studies showed that personal income taxes were falling, especially for high-earners, as indirect taxes took more of many countries’ overall tax burden. As the financial crisis hit national budgets, this trend was broken as governments sought to raise additional revenue from the wealthy in particular, and top rates began to creep up once more.Read full feature

It cannot escaped many people’s attention that Cyprus was the latest Eurozone country to require a bailout from the “troika” of lenders earlier this year as its banks, heavily exposed to Greece, succumbed to the debt crisis. Nevertheless, while this has necessitated some painful short-term fiscal and monetary policy measures, the banking sector, and the economy in general, is expected to emerge from the crisis relatively unscathed.Read full feature

As everyone in the Offshore Industry knows, Panama has a Tax System that is based on the Territorial Principle of Taxation. This principle that Panama has embraced means that only Panama-sourced income is taxed.Read full feature

Generally speaking, governments in free market economies like to encourage people to buy property, and they often help people to get their first foot on the property ladder. Equally however, land and real estate can be a useful cash cow for national treasuries, especially those most in need of revenue, and once enticed into the property market, investors may pay considerably more in real estate taxes. This article rounds up some of the main developments in the area of property taxation over the past few months.Read full feature

President Obama, when on the campaign trail in 2008, envisaged a dramatically simplified tax system whereby 40 million Americans would be able to complete their tax returns in less than five minutes without the paid help of an accountant. Clearly, this utopian vision of the US tax landscape has failed to come to pass, but as Congress begins to debate comprehensive tax reform in earnest, personal taxpayers struggling to comply with America’s dysfunctional tax system at least have some cause for optimism.Read full feature

For our latest feature on developments in the area of global trade we look at the proposed free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States, which, if concluded, would arguably be the most significant and ambitious trade deal of its type in the post-war era.Read full feature

A recent survey of senior tax professionals in the United States ranked potential US corporate tax reform alongside tax authorities’ more rigorous pursuit of transfer pricing cases as the top global tax concern facing companies. This feature outlines just why this is the case.Read full feature

While we have been hearing a lot of talk within and between Governments about how multinational corporations must be stopped from employing tax minimization strategies, individual taxpayers have by no means been let off the hook either, and this feature looks at how opportunities to shelter income from are being increasingly attacked.Read full feature

With the topic of corporate tax avoidance receiving attention in the global news media as never before, the world's revenue authorities are paying closer attention to transfer pricing.

Survey after survey informs us that transfer pricing is now the top concern for multinationals in the area of taxation, and as Governments pour resources into policing this area taxpayers now have to be ever more vigilant to ensure that intra-group transactions meet arm's length standards set out in national transfer pricing regulations.Read full feature

It has been almost five years since the Doha Round of trade talks collapsed with the finishing line in sight. But while there have been numerous attempts to revive the Round, led by the indomitable WTO Director General Pascal Lamy, the world seems to have moved on.Read full feature

In our last review of personal taxation we observed governments, anxious to appear to be taxing their subjects fairly, were by and large keeping lower rates of income tax on hold, while targeting high income individuals in their seemingly never-ending quest to raise the tax take. This trend, with few exceptions, has continued from 2012 into 2013.Read full feature

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